Page 6 of Ghosted AF
“But he wasn’t here?”
“Right. I looked around the apartment to be sure, but he definitely wasn’t here.”
“Okay, what did you do after that?”
“I went to the kitchen to make something to eat. I figured Mykal had an emergency or something, and maybe he would be back tomorrow to finish the job. If not, I planned to call the office in the morning to let them know what happened.”
“That’s smart,” I praised, uncomfortable with the way my stomach fluttered when he responded with a brilliant smile. “So, when everything started to go sideways, you thought…what?”
“Well, that Mykal had died and was haunting me, of course.”
Of course. I tried to work out his logic, but I just couldn’t see it. “But there’s no body.”
“Mykal was a shadeling.”
He said it with such confidence I found myself nodding along until the words finally registered. Then I could only blink at him.
Did he seriously think shadelings justevaporatedwhen they died?
“Why didn’t you leave?” I asked, careful to keep any judgment from my tone.
“I tried, but the door wouldn’t open.”
So far, we had a missing shadeling that may or may not be important. An energy too weak for me to get a read on, but that most certainly did not come from a disembodied specter.
And pretty much nothing else.
“You never answered me,” Rylee blurted a moment later. “Is it gone?”
“For now.” Whatever it was, I could still feel it. Just fainter, quieter.
He wrung his hands together in his lap, the skin turning a delicate pink. “So, it’s going to come back?”
I dipped my head.
“You can’t leave.” Rylee grabbed my hand, clutching it tightly between his own. “I ordered Crisis Containment, and I am still very much in crisis. You have to help me.”
My fingers curled reflexively when a zing shot through my hand and up my arm from the point of contact, but I didn’t try to pull away. Beneath the bitterness of anxiety, the scent of lavender and sage—earthy, herbal—pushed at me, invading my senses and making my head spin.
“That’s the plan,” I assured him, my voice thick and coarse.
Without knowing the source of the disturbance, I could contain it, but I couldn’t remove it. I needed more information, and to get it, I’d have to stay in the apartment.
Fuck, I already hated this case.
three
~ Rylee ~
RYLEE:I want to request a new agent.
MNSTR:I’m sorry to hear that. All of our task agents undergo rigorous background checks, and we strive to provide the best possible experience for our users. Can you please provide more details about your complaint?
RYLEE:He keeps walking around my apartment without a shirt on.
MNSTR:I’m sorry. I didn’t understand that. Can you please provide more details about your complaint?
RYLEE:My agent isn’t wearing a shirt, and it’s making my heart do weird things.
